Clothing receptacle

ABSTRACT

A clothing receptacle is provided which includes an interactive feature calculated to generate an interest among children inducing them to place their dirty clothing into a bag. The bag may be closed after it is filled with dirty clothes and transported to the laundry room where it may be placed into both the washer and dryer while the clothes remain in its interior throughout the laundering process.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to receptacles for clothing, and, moreparticularly, to the combination of a mesh bag and the torso of a toycharacter releasably attached to the bag having a head carrying aloudspeaker which sounds a message when the mouth of the head is openedto allow insertion of items of clothing into the bag.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is a challenge for parents of younger children to teach them to pickup after themselves. If good habits are not established early on, by thetime the child reaches his or her teenage years it may be too late.Placement of dirty clothing in a laundry basket or other receptacle,instead of on the floor or somewhere else, is an important part ofkeeping a child's room in some semblance of order and in ensuring thatthe clothes are freshly laundered.

Like many other aspects of teaching children, it is helpful to add anelement of fun to gain their attention and participation. A number oflaundry bags have been developed which are formed in the shape of a toycharacter to entice children to place their dirty clothes in the bag.See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. D202,381; D183,211; D179,866; D152,173and D99,499. In some cases, a strap is attached to the bag so that itcan be hung on a doorknob or the like where it is in full view of thechild whenever he or she goes into their bedroom or bathroom. Althoughdecorative, laundry bags of this type do not fit in with theinteractive, visual and audio experience children get from the toys thatthey play with, the television shows that they watch and many otheraspects of their everyday world. As a result, they are of little valuein helping children learn to take care of their dirty clothes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention is directed to a clothing receptacle which includes aninteractive feature calculated to generate an interest among childreninducing them to place their dirty clothing into a bag. The bag may beclosed after it is filled with dirty clothes and transported to thelaundry room where it may be placed into both the washer and dryer,while the clothes remain in its interior for laundering.

In the presently preferred embodiment, the clothing receptacle comprisesa bag formed with apertures, such as a nylon mesh bag, having an openend which mounts to the torso of a toy character. The toy character hasa head with a mouth movable between and open and closed position, and anelectrical circuit including a loudspeaker. In response to opening ofthe mouth, the loudspeaker sounds a message encouraging the child toplace clothing into the mouth, which, in turn, leads into the interioror the bag. When the bag is filled, it may be detached from the torso,closed and then taken into the laundry room. The bag is placed in theclothes washer, with the clothes remaining in its interior, and theninto the dryer.

The clothing receptacle of this invention adds an element of fun andinteraction for the child encouraging him or her to place clothes intothe bag. The toy character “speaks” to the child when its mouth isopened, and a number of different messages may be provided to enhancethe child's fun. In addition to the entertainment provided the child,the person doing the laundry can keep all of the child's clothestogether in the bag throughout the laundering process so that they arenot lost or intermixed with other clothing. This is especially helpfulwith socks which seem to routinely disappear during laundering.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The structure, operation and advantages of the presently preferredembodiment of this invention will become further apparent uponconsideration of the following description, taken in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front view of the clothing receptacle of this invention withthe mouth of the toy character in the closed position;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 except with the mouth open;

FIG. 3 is a view of the bag of the clothing receptacle detached from thetoy character; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of one version of an electrical circuit whichmay be used in the subject invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the Figs., the clothing receptacle 10 of this inventionincludes a bag 11 and the torso of a toy character 12 having a pair ofarms 14 and 16, and a head 18 with a mouth 20. The toy character 12 isdepicted as a “monster,” but it should be understood that virtually anytype of character could be employed and is considered within the scopeof this invention. Additionally, only a portion of the torso of the toycharacter 12 and not the remainder of the body is depicted in theillustrated embodiment but it is contemplated that more or less of thebody of such character 12 could be used so long as a path is providedthrough which clothing may be delivered into the bag 11, as describedbelow.

The toy character 12 is preferably formed of a fabric material filledwith stuffing, a “soft-sculpture” construction having foam materialcovered with a layer of fabric or other suitable construction. The mouth20 is movable between a closed position shown in FIG. 1 and the openposition depicted in FIG. 2. A strap 22 is preferable affixed to theback of the toy character 12 so that the receptacle 10 may be mounted toa doorknob 24 or the like as shown in phantom in FIGS. 1 and 2.

The bag 11 is formed of a durable, light-weight, washable and dryablematerial with a number of apertures 25, such as nylon mesh or the like.As best seen in FIG. 3, the bag 11 has a closed interior 26 except forthe top 28 which may be opened and closed by a zipper 30 or otherfastening device. The toy character 12 may be affixed and detached fromthe bag 11 by snaps 32, buttons, hook and loop fastening elements or anyother suitable means of attachment which permits the toy character 12and bag 11 to detach from one another. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, thetoy character 10 is mounted to the bag 11 so that the head 18 extendsabout the open top 28 of the bag 11 and the mouth 20, when opened,communicates with its interior 26.

As schematically shown in FIG. 4, the toy character 10 mounts anelectrical circuit 34 including a battery 36, a switch 38, an integratedcircuit 40 and a loudspeaker 42. The integrated circuit 40, or,alternatively any other suitable controller, is operative to sound theloudspeaker 42 and may be programmed with a number of messages, as notedbelow.

The clothing receptacle 10 operates as follows. The toy character 12 isinitially attached to the bag 1 by the snaps 32 with the top 28 of thebag 11 in the open position and the mouth 20 of the character closed. Inresponse to movement of the mouth 20 to the open position, the switch 38is closed causing the integrated circuit 40 to sound the loudspeaker 42.A message is produced, such as “I want socks” or “Feed me socks,” toencourage the child to place his or her clothing into the mouth 20 ofthe toy character 12. The clothing, depicted as sock(s) 44 in FIGS. 2and 3, passes through the mouth 20 and open top 28 of the bag 11 intoits interior 26. The mouth 20 is then closed. Every time the mouth 20 isopened a message is sounded by the loudspeaker 42, and as noted above,the messages may vary from one time to another.

When the bag 11 is filled with clothing, or it is otherwise time to dolaundry, the toy character 12 is detached from the bag 11. The zipper 30is operated to close the bag 11 and it may then be transported to thelaundry room. The bag 11, with the socks 44 and/or other clothesremaining in its interior 26, may be placed in the washer and then intothe dryer. In this manner, the clothes are kept together throughout thelaundering process and can be returned to the child's room withoutlosing them or mixing them with other clothes. After the clean clothesare put away, the bag 11 is opened and re-attached to the toy character12 in preparation for use.

While the invention has been described with reference to a preferredembodiment, it should be understood by those skilled in the art thatvarious changes may be made and equivalents substituted for elementsthereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition,many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation ormaterial to the teachings of the invention without departing from theessential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the inventionnot be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best modecontemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the inventionwill include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appendedclaims. What is claimed is:

1. A clothing receptacle, comprising: a bag having a hollow interior andbeing formed with an open end; at least a portion of a toy characterincluding a head with a mouth movable between a closed position and anopen position, said toy character being releasably mounted to said bagat said open end thereof in position to permit access to said hollowinterior of said bag through said mouth of said head when in said openposition; an electrical circuit mounted to said toy character, saidelectrical circuit including a controller coupled to a loudspeaker andto a switch, said switch being operated in response to movement of saidmouth to said open position thereby causing said controller to operatesaid loudspeaker which sounds a message, said hollow interior of saidbag receiving clothing when said mouth is in said open position.
 2. Theclothing receptacle of claim 1 in which said bag includes a closuredevice located at said open end to permit opening and closing of saidbag.
 3. The clothing receptacle of claim 2 in which said closure deviceis a zipper.
 4. The clothing receptacle of claim 1 further includingmounting structure for releasably mounting said toy character to saidbag.
 5. The clothing receptacle of claim 4 in which said mountingstructure is a number of snaps connected between said toy character andsaid bag.
 6. The clothing receptacle of claim 4 in which said mountingstructure permits detachment of said bag from said toy character, saidbag having items of clothing in said hollow interior being adapted to beplaced in a clothes washer and dryer for laundering of the clothingitems therein.
 7. The clothing receptacle of claim 1 further including astrap connected to one of said bag and said toy character to permithanging of said bag and said toy character on a doorknob.
 8. Theclothing receptacle of claim 1 in which said bag is formed of a fabricmaterial having a plurality of holes.
 9. The clothing receptacle ofclaim 8 in which said bag is formed of nylon mesh material.
 10. Aclothing receptacle, comprising: a bag having a hollow interior andbeing formed with an open end, said bag including a closure device foropening and closing said open end thereof; at least a portion of a toycharacter including a head having a mouth movable between a closedposition and an open position; mounting structure for securing said toycharacter to said open end of said bag so that said toy character may bedetached from said bag, said head of said toy character being positionedrelative to said open end of said bag to permit access to said hollowinterior thereof through said mouth of said head; an electrical circuitmounted to said toy character, said electrical circuit including acontroller coupled to a loudspeaker and to a switch, said switch beingoperated in response to movement of said mouth to said open positionthereby causing said controller to operate said loudspeaker which soundsa message, said hollow interior of said bag receiving clothing when saidmouth is in said open position; said bag being detached by operation ofsaid mounting structure from said toy character after having receivedclothing within its interior, said closure device being operated toclose said open end of said bag, said bag being insertable into aclothes washer and dryer while maintaining the clothing within saidhollow interior thereof throughout the laundering process.
 11. Theclothing receptacle of claim 10 further including a strap connected toone of said bag and said toy character to permit hanging of said bag andsaid toy character on a doorknob.
 12. The clothing receptacle of claim10 in which said bag is formed of nylon mesh material.